Are crackles an appropriate outcome measure for airway clearance therapy?

Abstract

There is an urgent need to develop new outcome measures for respiratory therapy, to evaluate its effectiveness. Adventitious sounds generated from the lungs (crackles and wheezes), can now be quantified and characterized objectively with computer technology. To our knowledge, this is the first reported study designed to assess any change in lung crackles before and after a single session of airway clearance therapy.